The Man Behind Tower Bar, Hollywood's Most Famous Maître d'

It's 10 p.m. at The Tower Bar in the Sunset Tower Hotel, and Dimitri Dimitrov has just bid a warm farewell to Zac Posen. "You can go stand at the bar," he tells me, like a parent might encourage their five-year-old to get on the bus the first day of kindergarten. To be fair, I needed that little push: I'd just walked into a bar with one of the most concentrated crowds of A-listers on any given night in L.A.—possibly in the country, the world—and I was caught off guard by the designer, flanked by beautiful women, the moment I walked in. But I should have expected it: It's the weekend of the Oscars, Tower Bar's busiest time of the year.

After guiding me to my rightful place on the corner of the bar—parked in front of a bouquet of ballerina-pink peonies—Dimitrov floated around the room, checking on every guest with his hands clasped at his chest. Everybody greeted him by name, and with a big smile.

Dimitrov is pretty much the caricature of a maître d': short and sturdy, with slicked-back black hair, a pressed jacket, and impeccable manners. His Moldovan accent only heightens his charm, a quality he wields as skillfully as a fencer handles a saber. He is a master of social dynamics in Hollywood, knowing every actor, agent, director, and executive in the industry. And if you're anybody in the biz, you have his number.

"The most important part of my job is to figure out the seating in the restaurant. I have to read magazines, from US Weekly to People to Vogue to Variety," he explains. "I need to recognize everybody, and act accordingly." The bigwigs get Dimitri's favorite table, a curved banquette nestled in a huge window overlooking the hills. It's the first thing you see as you walk into the sultry space—that is, if you don't run into Sean Penn or Johnny Depp on their way out first.

When you witness Dimitrov at work, it's apparent he comes from good stock. Working in hospitality since he was 19, he cut his teeth as a captain at the Ritz Carlton in Montreal, handling heavy-hitting dignitaries from Queen Elizabeth to former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. His experience in Hollywood hospitality is impressive, too: He headed up service at swanky hotels like L'Hermitage and The Penninsula and scene-y restaurants like the legendary but now defunct Russian caviar bar Diaghilev. Jeff Klein, the Sunset Tower Hotel's owner, approached Dimitri to run the hotel's restaurant after Tom Ford recommended him, writing Dimitrov's name on the back of a napkin.

But soon Dimitrov will be moving on yet again. Klein is opening a new ultra-luxe hotel in a little over a year, and Dimitrov will be bringing his talents—and loyal celebrity following—over there. He'll still be working at Tower Bar, but putting in a couple nights a week instead of seven. With the bar's elegant yet unremarkable atmosphere, it's hard to imagine it keeping that certain magic without him holding court. It might be yet another blow to the hotel's clout, after the loss of Graydon Carter's famed Vanity Fair Oscars after-party. But the L.A. scene is constantly changing, and new spots enter the spotlight while old hangouts fall out of it—just like the star-studded clientele Tower Bar caters to.

"You should have come earlier—this is the end of our night," Dimitri told me as he checked on me at the bar, 15 minutes after my deer-in-the-headlights moment. He delighted in pointing out his good friend Thomas Keller, sitting at a table directly behind me, and John Mayer, sitting with a brunette who might have been Katy Perry. Well, whoever she was, I'm sure she'll be calling up Dimitri for a table at his new spot. I'm sure they all will.